Chapter 1: The Missing Bride

The Missing Bride

At 9:17 a.m., Lena Carter received a message that changed her life.

Don’t let them find me.

She stared at the screen.

For a moment, she wondered if she had read it wrong.

Then another message appeared.

I’m sorry, Lena.

Her heart dropped.

She immediately called.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

No answer.

“Sophia, pick up,” Lena whispered.

Around her, the Carter estate was drowning in wedding preparations. Staff hurried through the halls carrying flowers and trays of champagne. Someone was arguing about the missing decorations in the ballroom. From the garden came the sound of musicians rehearsing for the ceremony.

Everything was beautiful.

Everything was perfect.

Everything was about to fall apart.

Lena looked at the message again.

Her older sister, Sophia, was supposed to marry Adrian Blackwood in less than two hours.

Not just any man.

Adrian Blackwood.

Thirty years old. Billionaire. CEO of Blackwood Group. The kind of man whose name appeared in business magazines almost as often as it appeared in gossip columns.

He was known for being ruthless.

Cold.

Untouchable.

And, according to every woman who had ever tried to get close to him, completely incapable of love.

The marriage between Sophia and Adrian wasn’t exactly a love story either.

It was a business alliance.

The Carter family needed the Blackwoods.

The Blackwoods wanted something from the Carters.

And Sophia had been the perfect bride for the arrangement.

Beautiful. Confident. Socially polished.

Everything Lena wasn’t.

Lena slipped her phone into her palm and hurried upstairs.

She pushed open Sophia’s bedroom door.

“Sophia?”

Silence.

The room looked wrong.

Sophia’s wedding gown was gone.

Her jewelry box was open.

One of the drawers had been left half-pulled out.

But her passport was missing too.

Lena’s stomach tightened.

She walked toward the dressing table and noticed something on the floor.

A small silver earring.

Sophia’s favorite pair.

Lena picked it up.

She had barely closed her fingers around it when the door opened behind her.

“Lena!”

Her mother stood there, pale and breathless.

“Where is Sophia?”

Lena stared at her.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I’ve been calling her.”

Her mother’s expression changed.

“Call her again.”

“I already did.”

“Again!”

Lena obeyed.

The phone rang.

And rang.

Then went straight to voicemail.

Her mother pressed a hand against her chest.

“Oh, God.”

“What happened?”

“Your father is looking for her.”

Lena frowned.

“Why?”

Her mother didn’t answer immediately.

Then she whispered, “Because Adrian Blackwood is already here.”

The words sent a chill through Lena.

“He’s here?”

“Yes.”

“And Sophia isn’t?”

Her mother shook her head.

For several seconds, neither woman spoke.

Then footsteps thundered down the hallway.

Her father appeared.

His face was furious.

“Where is Sophia?”

“We don’t know,” her mother said.

“Find her.”

“We’re trying.”

“You have one hour.”

Lena stared at him.

“One hour for what?”

Her father’s eyes landed on her.

Something in his expression made her uneasy.

“Lena,” he said quietly, “you need to get dressed.”

She blinked.

“Why?”

He didn’t answer.

Her mother looked away.

And suddenly, Lena understood.

“No.”

Her father stepped closer.

“Listen to me.”

“No.”

“Lena—”

“You want me to marry him?”

Her voice cracked.

“You want me to take Sophia’s place?”

Nobody answered.

That was answer enough.

Lena backed away.

“You can’t be serious.”

“The marriage must happen today.”

“Sophia disappeared!”

“And that is precisely why you have to do this.”

“Why me?”

Her father’s jaw tightened.

“Because the Carter family cannot survive if this agreement collapses.”

Lena laughed bitterly.

“So that’s it?”

Her eyes burned.

“I’m just a replacement?”

“Don’t make this emotional.”

“I’m your daughter!”

“And you’re the only daughter who can save this family today.”

The words cut deeper than he probably intended.

Lena looked at her mother.

“Mom?”

Her mother finally met her eyes.

There were tears in them.

“I’m sorry.”

Lena’s heart broke.

Not because she wanted to marry Adrian.

She didn’t.

She barely knew him.

What hurt was realizing that nobody was asking whether she wanted to.

They had already decided.

Her father stepped forward.

“If you refuse, the Blackwoods will withdraw from the deal. The bank will call in the company’s loans. We will lose the business, the house, everything.”

Lena looked down at Sophia’s silver earring in her hand.

Her sister had left her with nothing but a warning.

Don’t let them find me.

Maybe Sophia had a reason.

Maybe something terrible had happened.

But Lena had no time to find out.

Outside the bedroom, the wedding music started.

Her father held out his hand.

“Lena.”

She stared at him.

Then at the wedding dress hanging beside her sister’s empty dressing table.

Her entire life had been spent standing behind Sophia.

Today, they wanted her to stand in front of everyone.

As Sophia.

Lena slowly closed her fingers around the earring.

“If I do this,” she said, “what happens when Adrian finds out I’m not Sophia?”

Her father looked away.

“You’ll deal with it.”

A bitter smile touched her lips.

Of course.

She always did.

Lena walked toward the dress.

Every step felt like she was walking toward a life that belonged to someone else.

She stopped before the mirror.

For the first time, she saw herself wearing Sophia’s wedding gown.

White lace.

Long veil.

A stranger’s future.

Her mother came behind her and adjusted the veil with trembling hands.

“You look beautiful.”

Lena stared at her reflection.

“No,” she whispered.

“I look like a lie.”

⸻

At 11:02 a.m., the doors of the wedding hall opened.

Everyone turned.

Lena stepped inside.

Hundreds of eyes followed her.

She kept her head high.

Her hands trembled beneath the bouquet.

At the end of the aisle stood Adrian Blackwood.

He was taller than she expected.

Black suit. White shirt. No tie.

His expression was unreadable.

He didn’t smile.

He didn’t look nervous.

He simply watched her approach.

Lena forced herself to keep walking.

Ten steps.

Eight.

Six.

Then Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

Something changed in his expression.

Recognition.

Or perhaps the absence of it.

When Lena finally reached him, he leaned slightly closer.

His voice was low enough that only she could hear.

“You’re not Sophia.”

Lena’s heart stopped.

She swallowed.

“No.”

Adrian stared at her for several seconds.

Then he looked toward the Carter family.

His jaw tightened.

When his eyes returned to Lena, the warmth in the room seemed to disappear.

“Then who the hell are you?”

Lena tightened her grip around the bouquet.

“My name is Lena Carter.”

For the first time that morning, Adrian Blackwood looked genuinely angry.

And somewhere far away, Sophia Carter’s phone was switched off.

The wedding bells began to ring.